General Motors Co. is doing something unusual for a publicly traded company. The auto giant is asking a large shareholder to sell and go away.

The shareholder is not a typical one. It's the U.S. government, which is resisting calls to sell its GM stock.

Former GM CEO Ed Whitacre said Tuesday from his San Antonio office that GM and the U.S. Treasury need to work out a way for the U.S. government to sell its remaining GM shares.

“I just don't think the government has a place in a private company, not for the long term,” Whitacre said several days after his opinion article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The article urged the U.S. government to sell its shares and end its management controls over the Detroit-based automaker.

Whitacre's article came after news earlier last week that the U.S. Treasury was refusing GM's request that it divest its GM stock. Treasury is resisting partly because current share prices are below what the government needs to break even on its initial $50 billion bailout of GM in 2009.

The money came from Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program that also helped shore up banks. Treasury has since sold some of its shares but still holds about 30 percent of GM stock.

Whitacre said he and GM's current management are grateful for the 2009 assistance. The action saved not only GM, but also the rest of the U.S. auto industry and other manufacturing sectors because the supplier network survived.

But Whitacre agreed with Treasury that it should not sell its ownership stake unless the taxpayers at least break even on their investment.

He's right.

If and when GM buys back its shares, GM ought to add a little more in profit to show gratitude to the taxpayers.

Treasury has estimated it needs $53 a share to break even. GM stock closed at the end of trading Tuesday at $23.52. Whitacre said GM could make up the difference with its cash reserves, but it would have been easier to repay Treasury in 2010 when GM held a large initial public offering.

2010 was the year Whitacre, the former AT&T Inc. chairman and CEO, stepped down as GM CEO and chairman after having been appointed by the White House in 2009 to head GM.

Whitacre said Tuesday that the government and bankers limited the number of IPO shares. “GM could have sold a lot more shares” with the proceeds being used to pay back the U.S. government, Whitacre said.

Some investors are not buying GM stock, and some car buyers are avoiding GM models because of the ongoing government controls, Whitacre said. Because the initial $50 billion came from TARP, the government can dictate matters such as executive compensation and perquisites, including private-jet travel, as long as the government still owns shares.

If the government continues to hold shares over the coming quarters and years, “GM will do OK,” Whitacre said, “but the company still will have this collar and lead weight on it. It will be a drag on them.”